THE Lapu-Lapu City Government turned over P47 million worth of classrooms to Marigondon Elementary School (MES) and Pajo National High School (PNHS), just in time for the opening of classes.
The Department of Education (DepEd) also turned over a three-story school building with nine classrooms to MES.
Last Friday, the City Government led by Lapu-Lapu Mayor Paz Radaza inaugurated the four-story building with 16 classrooms in MES. The construction of the school building cost P27 million.
The fund was taken from the City’s Special Education Fund (SEF).
Marilyn Andales, Lapu-Lapu Schools Division superintendent, said she was thankful that the City allotted a big chunk of its budget for the SEF.
In her speech, Radaza said education has always been her priority, that is why she took efforts in addressing the shortage of classrooms in the city.
“With this on top of my mind, the local government unit of Lapu-Lapu is seeking the help of the private sector to solve the shortage of classrooms. Six years ago, the shortage of classrooms was a big problem. So when I first sat as the city mayor, I focused my attention on this battle of providing conducive classrooms for our learners,” Radaza said.
On the same day, DepEd turned over the three-story building with nine classrooms to MES worth P15 million.
With the increasing number of students, Andales said the new classrooms given to MES helped fill the lack of rooms in the school.
From MES, Radaza went to PNHS to inaugurate the three-story school building with 12 classrooms. The City spent P20 million through the SEF for the construction of the new classrooms.
Radaza thanked the benefactors who helped the City to address the problem of classroom shortage.
“The war against classroom shortage is not yet over but we have been winning battles because of benevolent benefactors and because of the support of the private sector. The lack of classrooms should never be the reason why we can’t give the quality education to our students,” Radaza said.
As of Monday, there are a total of 56,384 elementary and 27,124 secondary students in the public schools in Lapu-Lapu.
In the private schools, there are 2,969 elementary and 1,174 secondary students.
Andales said there are a total of 2,739 senior high school students in public and private schools.